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Benefits Of Interior Wood Shutters

wlben — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:04:59 +0000

Interior wooden shutters will create the defining touch to flatter any decoration of your home. Wood shutters are a great investment, and should be thought of and treated as fine furniture. Also, they are the only window coverings that are actually appraised into the value of your home. The rich natural appearance and matching quality features they offer make them a perfect choice for your home.

Insulation
Wood shutters will offer you many insulation values such as energy efficiency, and they maintain interior temperature from exterior temperature extremes as well as help with outside noise. According to experts, it takes nearly 6 inches of brick, 14 inches of concrete, and well over 1,700 inches of aluminum to equal the insulating value offered by only 1 inch of wood.

Environmental
Opposed to aluminum, plastic, and other types of composites, wood is only material for shutters that is manufactured from a 100% renewal source.

Authentic
Wood can be made from several sources, including poplar, oak, and basswood. There are several products that feature word wood in their name, although they actually contain little to no wood at all. They are all extremely limited in their custom features, and are only available in standard white colors, cannot be stained, and they have both the look and feel of plastic.

All around the United States, wood remains one of the most popular sources of shutters. Wood shutters offer you many features, and they are also easy to install, even if you have no experience with installing shutters.

You can find them in your local hardware store, or even order them online if you prefer. They may cost a bit more than vinyl or other types of shutters, although they will last for a long time and give your home the look you desire.

7 Woods To Make Shutters From

wlben — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:06:00 +0000

When you are making your choice of interior Window Treatment that include wooden shutters, there are several woods to consider for the job. Seven (7) of these woods are listed below. We will discuss the different advantages and disadvantages of the various woods that you can use. If you are DIY’er, you may already know this information but if you don’t do a lot of wood working this information will be helpful if you are going to have someone else build your shutters for you. You can discuss the topic with a little more depth than if you had to say “What ever you think, I’m sure will be fine”.

The best wood for building interior wooden shutters is basswood. The tree can be found from Quebec south to Delaware and the Atlantic coast west to Eastern Kentucky with an average height of 65 feet. Basswood is a renewable resource and careful forest management ensures that the harvesting is done responsibly by balancing the wood growth with wood removal.

Basswood Shutters

Basswood interior shutters are very straight and they also have a fine uniform texture with a very indistinct grain. The wood machines well and is easy to work, screws well, glues well, and it can be stained to a smooth finish. Basswood shutters do not warp, they are lightweight yet very strong, offer uniform grain for a superb stain finish, and they offer superior gluing and finishing properties. The uniform grain also make it good for hand carving special designs, if you have the experience to do wood carving. A side note to this is that there are many wood carvers around the nation that are very talented and are looking for projects to work on. There services can be had for a reasonable price which would give your shutters a special look to your home different than anyone else.

Oak shutters

Oak is a very heavy wood which makes for very heavy window shutters. Oak interior shutters will add a lot of weight to window jambs, with screws requiring pre-drilling. They aren’t suitable for painting and the louvers tend to warp over time.

Maple shutters

Maple is heavy like oak and produces interior shutters that are very heavy. Maple also requires that the window jambs be pre-drilled. The wood louvers with maple are hard to tension uniformly.

Poplar shutters

Poplar shutters mill and paint very well. The mineral in the wood streaks with a green color which makes popular wood unsuitable for staining. For shutters, poplar wood is moderately heavy. The wood is widely available and less costly, although it also produces a lower quality of wood shutter.

Cedar shutters

Cedar wood mills and finishes nicely, although the color varies greatly for staining. Cedar is pretty soft and can dent or scratch very easily. For exterior shutters, cedar works very well. The amazing durability and resistance to decay makes cedar the perfect wood for exterior use wherever moisture is presented. It gives long service with very little maintenance, and is also hated by bugs!

Alder shutters

Alder is an excellent choice for interior shutters, as the tree is very small. Tall window shutters using alder wood will require finger joints.

Pine shutters

Pine is a soft wood, with many different species and grades available.

There you have 7 different woods and there quality for being used as shutter material. Some for interior and some for exterior. The ability of some to weather the storm and others for there ability to take stain or paint. Always remember that there are also poorly constructed wood shutters that will rank very low on the scale of quality. You should always look for a smooth, well sanded surface, thick durable paint, glued and doweled joints, and a straight light hardwood. Before you commit to any shutter company, always request a sample so that you know what to expect.

Wood Window Shutters

wlben — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:17:15 +0000

Window Treatments come in a variety of types. Both in-door and out-door treatments can be purchased or built by competent builders, especially the wood variety. Wood Window Treatments can come as blinds or as shutters, which we will be discussing in this article.

Shutters are different than blinds in the way that they are installed and maneuvered into position when they are needed. The blinds go up and down or back and forth on rods or strings, but the shutter has at least 2 different ways to be used.

The first way is for the shutter to be solid with no holes or openings in them at all. This type will be hung with hinges and opened or closed by simply swinging into the desired position. This style has the most insulation factor of any style because it closes of the window area completely.

The second design that a shutter has seems to be the most popular in the modern setting. A wood frame is made the size of the window, with an opening in the center. The frame will be of varying sizes but the opening would be 2 or 3 inches smaller than the outside of the frame. On the inside of the opening there would be straight wood slats that could be vertical or horizontal. These slats would be able to be moved on a pivot that would allow the slat to either block the opening or allow the opening to pass light or air through it. This opening and closing would be augmented by the ability of the shutter to be completely opened on hinges, completely exposing the window.

Interior wooden shutters will create the defining touch to flatter any decoration of your home. Wood shutters are a great investment, and should be thought of and treated as fine furniture. Also, they are the only window coverings that are actually appraised into the value of your home. The rich natural appearance and matching quality features they offer make them a perfect choice for your home.

Insulation

Wood shutters will offer you many insulation values such as energy efficiency, and they maintain interior temperature from exterior temperature extremes as well as help with outside noise. According to experts, it takes nearly 6 inches of brick, 14 inches of concrete, and well over 1,700 inches of aluminum to equal the insulating value offered by only 1 inch of wood.

Environmental

Opposed to aluminum, plastic, and other types of composites, wood is the only material for shutters that is manufactured from a 100% renewable source.

Authentic

Wood can be made from several sources, including poplar, oak, and basswood. There are several products that feature the word wood in their name, although they actually contain little to no wood at all. They are all extremely limited in their custom features, and are only available in standard white colors, cannot be stained, and they have both the look and feel of plastic.

So with the Authentic look and the environmental feature of being renewable, along with the insulation value of wood, you can’t go wrong when you choose wood shutters for your Window Treatments.